Prototyping an Online Virtual Simulation Course Platform for College Students to Learn Creative Thinking

Wu, Xiaojian; Liu, Wei; Jia, Jingpeng; Zhang, Xuemin; Leifer, Larry; Hu, Siyuan

doi:10.3390/systems11020089

Open AccessArticle

Prototyping an Online Virtual Simulation Course Platform for College Students to Learn Creative Thinking

by

Xiaojian Wu

^1,†,

Wei Liu

^1,†

,

Jingpeng Jia

^2,†,

Xuemin Zhang

¹,

Larry Leifer

³ and

Siyuan Hu

^1,*

¹

Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China

²

College of Special Education, Beijing Union University, Beijing 100075, China

³

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94306, USA

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Systems 2023, 11(2), 89; https://doi.org/10.3390/systems11020089

Submission received: 24 December 2022 / Revised: 31 January 2023 / Accepted: 6 February 2023 / Published: 8 February 2023

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovations in Educational Systems and Digital Transformations in Education)

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Abstract

With the rapid development of science and technology, the ability to creative thinking has become an essential criterion for measuring talents. Current creative thinking courses for college students are affected by COVID-19 and are challenging to conduct. This study aimed to explore practical ways to teach creative thinking knowledge online and explored design opportunities for working on this teaching activity online. Through qualitative interviews, we found that the factors that influenced the design of the online virtual simulation course platform were focused on five dimensions: information presentation, platform characteristics, course assessment, instruction design, and presentation format. Through the analysis of user requirements, we obtained six corresponding design guidelines. Based on the knowledge system of design thinking, we set up eight modules in the course platform and developed a prototype including 100 user interfaces. We invited three experts and 30 users to conduct cognitive walk-through sessions and made design iterations based on the feedback. After user evaluation, dimensions of attractiveness, efficiency, dependability, and novelty reached excellent rating and were recognized by users.

Keywords: virtual simulation; online course platform; creative thinking; design guidelines; user interface; college students

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MDPI and ACS Style

Wu, X.; Liu, W.; Jia, J.; Zhang, X.; Leifer, L.; Hu, S. Prototyping an Online Virtual Simulation Course Platform for College Students to Learn Creative Thinking. Systems 2023, 11, 89. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems11020089

AMA Style

Wu X, Liu W, Jia J, Zhang X, Leifer L, Hu S. Prototyping an Online Virtual Simulation Course Platform for College Students to Learn Creative Thinking. Systems. 2023; 11(2):89. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems11020089

Chicago/Turabian Style

Wu, Xiaojian, Wei Liu, Jingpeng Jia, Xuemin Zhang, Larry Leifer, and Siyuan Hu. 2023. "Prototyping an Online Virtual Simulation Course Platform for College Students to Learn Creative Thinking" Systems 11, no. 2: 89. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems11020089

APA Style

Wu, X., Liu, W., Jia, J., Zhang, X., Leifer, L., & Hu, S. (2023). Prototyping an Online Virtual Simulation Course Platform for College Students to Learn Creative Thinking. Systems, 11(2), 89. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems11020089

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Prototyping an Online Virtual Simulation Course Platform for College Students to Learn Creative Thinking

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